The air stilled, as if some unseen hand had pressed upon the world and muted its breath. Eleana and John sensed a familiar presence as they turned to the figure tearing through the darkness and dirt.
A rider approached through the drifting darkness.Following him were hundreds of riders and armed knights.
Veer.
Eleana exhaled softly, her shoulders loosening for a heartbeat, then tightened again as she dashed forward, clearing the path with mechanical precision. Behind her, the commander's sword traced an arc upward. The knight of Braeven dodged, and the earth split open from the force—rending a path of ruptured stone that crawled all the way to the veiled lady. Only then did it halt, as if restrained by invisible strings. Their causual strikes were almost identical to the most powered up strikes from the captain.Such were the battle prowerss of a grey knight.
The Knight of Breavan stood amidst the chaos, his armor darker than the surrounding gloom, its grey lines etched like gravestones. Red feathers crowned his helm, trembling faintly in the corrupted air.He clashed with Clayren—blades glinting, bodies flickering. Each strike dispersed a layer of the darkness, revealing fractured glimpses of the battlefield. Yet neither unleashed their true power; this was the deliberate testing of predators.
Veer swept his gaze across the field.Destruction lay everywhere.Undead marionettes writhed, bound by thin, unnatural threads that seemed to pulse from a faintly visible giant hand in the distance. A constant buzzing seeped from the shadows—like whispers trying to fold themselves into his mind.
His head throbbed.
He recalled the last encounter—the strange knight on the road from Mythria, the emerald bow, the dragon of coiling light. For a moment, memory and present overlapped, making him uncertain which was real.
Nearby stood Noelle, several familiar knights, and many faces he did not recognize. Most wore expressions stretched thin by fear, some on the edge of breaking.A sudden stab of pain lanced behind Veer's eyes. He instinctively turned. The veiled lady was surrounded by spheres of thick darkness. His horse stepped back without needing a command.
Veer steadied himself, inhaled once, and forced his voice to remain calm."Knights… advance."
The answer came as a low chorus—reluctant, strained, but obedient. They moved.
That was when he saw Eleana running toward him.Her silver armor was stained with dust and blood. Her white hair fluttered weakly, and her steps trembled with each quake radiating from the distant duel. She looked exhausted—dangerously so.
Veer sighed and rode forward to meet her.
…
Clayren avoided another slash, expression cold.
"It could all have been avoided," the Breavan knight said, his tone oddly gentle for a battlefield. "If only your king had simply accepted her proposal."
He dodged Clayren's answering strike, continuing,"We needed only Eryssa. For the betterment of the entire region. Now look at what has become of it."
Clayren's sword ignited with emerald light. Her form shimmered, overlapped itself—then detonated forward.The knight crashed into the rubble far ahead.
She approached, one unhurried step at a time."You believe you hold every advantage," she said softly. Her eyes glinted. "Your old master from Zenith Academy… remember him?"
The knight parried her next blow, though blood now seeped through the plates at his abdomen.His confusion broke through his discipline."…Impossible. You couldn't have—"
Clayren laughed, a quiet, brittle sound."Assumptions are dangerous. But you're right. I killed him."Her gaze drifted toward a distant figure—Veer—before she added, voice dropping,"Rather… I was involved."
John meanwhile along with Eleana looked at Veer as they approached him. From the marching army Kerin landed near Veer as he also landed and started clearing the puppets all around.
The grey knight of Breavan faltered a bit. For a moment, the battlefield's noise seemed to drown beneath his bewilderment.He countered with a conjured blade rising from the ground, forcing Clayren back—but the air suddenly became colder.
Everyone turned.
The colossal dark hand in the mist clenched as the darkness swarmed and less powerful knights bursted on their own and then gradually stood and merged into the undead army. The undead convulsed, then surged forth in waves.
The Breavan knight drove his sword into the ground and roared.Darkness shuddered.A drake-shaped projection unfurled from the void baove as the two myth weapon projections stopped colliding, coiling once before merging with his sword. A sharp boom followed, and the blade radiated a pale, dangerous light.
The grey knight's presence rose as stood up and grabbed the sword, slashing downward."Sword of Breavan—Light Slash!"
Clayren blocked, but a dozen projections materialized instantly, tearing toward her. She dodged, deflected, redirected—each strike carving through the puppet horde, ripping holes in the darkness.
More projections followed.Each attack from the knight was followed by numerous projection like attacks or he was that superfast to the distant viewers.
Then, without warning, the knight hurled the sword into the ground.
The earth convulsed.
Shockwaves rippled outward—twenty strikes of collapsing terrain—and Veer, Eleana, John, and countless others staggered, some collapsing outright.Nyelle convulsed but Noelle smiled as Nyelle whispered,"How ....?"
Noelle put a hand to her lip as she said,"Everything is going as it should be ...Haha...sister this time I will punish you..."
Nyelle screamed as Noelle put a dagger deep in her shoulders.
As the shaking from the attacks ceased, dozens of Clayren's afterimages surrounded the crater, bodies flickering as they absorbed and dispersed the final remnants of the attack.Clayren herself knelt, breathing ragged.The Breaven knight slowly walked towards her as the dust settled. He was going to attack but something magical occured.
Emerald light burst from Clayren's body.
She ascended to the air as her limbs stretched unnaturally, as if some invisible force were bending her into a bowstring. The void tightened around her—compressed, trembling. Puppets and shadows burst like bubbles across the battlefield.
Clayren vanished.So did the knight.
A moment later, an explosion lit the far horizon—silent at first, then roaring with force that stripped the land bare.
…
Veer stared at the distant ruin, shock slowly fading.Sythris nodded to him once before rushing forward with the remaining troops to assist the trapped knights. Sythris said in a loud voice,"We just rescue and go inside the doors...and defend....".Everyone knew the force would just increase it was better to not stay for any longer.
Eleana approached—unsteady but determined. She looked at Veer as though something to say but eventually just said,"Are you doing fine..?"
Veer nodded and sighed but he saw Eleana tremble.
Her pupils suddenly contracted."Veer… the princess…the princess of Breaven... she might be after you!"
A cold flash passed Veer's cheek.
He parried on instinct, forcing Eleana back. A tall woman now stood before him, eyes gleaming with amusement.Her dress was bit like Eryssa but long . Her hair was flowing and she seemed to enjoy evrything. There was a huge scythe on her hand . He wondered if this was the princess.
"So you're the one," the princess murmured, her tone elusive.
Veer didn't understand what she was implying, nor did he care. Something in him snapped. Power erupted through his battered body, and he lunged, striking with reckless force.
Far behind, unnoticed by most, the veiled lady shifted her head slightly—watching him.
The princess blurred behind Veer.He sighed irritably. "Why does everyone do that?"
She wrapped her arms around him from behind.Veer was stunned for a moment and then slammed his shoulder backward, breaking her hold, and the two clashed again.
Star-core energy burst from him in jagged arcs, disarming her, breaking her scythe .Eventually she fell, breath shallow.
"I knew it…" she whispered. "Madam… he's completely drained of star energy…"
Veer felt a sharp dread crawl up his spine.
A scream tore across the battlefield.
He spun.
A pale hand protruded from Eleana's abdomen.
The veiled lady withdrew her arm as casually as one might pluck a weed."Useless."
For a heartbeat, Veer didn't comprehend what he was seeing.Then he caught Eleana as she collapsed, blood spilling across his hands.
Everything around them blurred, muffled.The veiled lady appeared behind him, hand raised again—but a figure intercepted her.
An old man.Thin, weathered, his clothes ragged like those of a wandering beggar. A single golden tooth gleamed when he grinned.
He held a thin needle between his fingers.
Veer stared, stunned."You…"
The old man glanced back, shaking his head."Let me handle this."
Then he and the veiled lady vanished—simply blinked out of existence.
Veer barely heard it.His world had narrowed to the girl in his arms.
Eleana's lips trembled."It's her… the puppet master. She's the one… the mastermind…"
Veer nodded silently, tears falling as he pressed medicine to her wound with trembling hands.
Eleana exhaled slowly."I… I'm afraid… you'll have to carry me… for a while."
Her voice faded, and Veer held her closer, eyes reflecting Eleana and the darkness around him.
In the back faint figure was watching everything as she muttered,"Junior brother ....Found you..."